Jack White has had a
very diverse music career and is what I would describe as being a bit of a
musical chameleon of sorts. He had great success with the White Stripes, whilst
also intermittently moving between off-shoot projects such as the Raconteurs and
the Dead Weather. The beauty of following Jack White is that you don’t really
know what he is thinking and where he will go next musically, making his career
an intriguing follow as much as anything. With this in mind he has now moved on
to a solo career, releasing his debut solo album in 2012 Blunderbuss which was a solid first up effort that encompassed many
different styles. It is now 2014 and again White has another album out, his
second solo offering Lazaretto and
although there are some good tracks on here, the results end up being a little
bid underwhelming.
White again mixes up the
sounds on this album, with blues rock, garage, alternative and country all
making appearances in various guises. White has been known to speak of his
song-writing methods and how he never has a pre-set plan of making an album but
simply records what he feels like at the time, and this is perhaps why his
first two solo records sound so diverse musically and do not follow any set
patterns. Lazaretto starts up with a
storming track the bluesy rocker “Three Women” which on first listening perhaps
could be deemed one of his best. It certainly gets the album off to a positive
start with its sizzling organ and playfulness lyrically and musically. The
title track “Lazaretto” follows next and is a typical White garage rocker that
congers up early White Stripes with its heavy guitar riffing and pounding
drums. It is nice enough as a track, but falls a bit flat as it doesn’t really
explore any new musical ground and ends up being a bit pedestrian. On “Temporary
Ground” White goes all country/singer-songwriter as he often has a tendency to
do, and is accompanied on vocals by one of the members of his all-female
backing band, with a bit of fiddle thrown in for good measure, while “Would You
Fight for My Love” is a mysterious almost dark track with a bit of a psychedelic
rock feel to it in what is one of the stronger tracks on the record. The first
half of the album then ends with an instrumental “High Ball Stepper” which does
nothing for me, and “Just One Drink” which has a country-blues vibe to it with
a good sing-along line about drinking, what could be better.
The second half of the
album begins with “Alone in My House” which brings out Whites softer country
side again while also showcasing some thunderous piano playing, a strong
feature of the album. White sounds good when he dives into the country-folk
area and I am still waiting for the day the record a full country/Americana
album. However, it is at this point where the record begins to flounder a bit,
starting with “Entitlement” a country ballad which although sweet is a bit
predictable. This is followed by “That Black Bat Licorice” which returns to the
heavy guitars of the title track, but with less success in what is quite a high
intensity number that moves in all sorts of directions. The album finally comes
to an end with “I think I Found the Culprit” a filler type track that sees White
moving in an alt-country direction this time and “Want and Able”, yet another
country ballad with the ingenious lyric (insert sarcasm) “who is the who
telling who what to do”. By this point I am afraid it sounds like White is
running out of ideas both lyrically and musically, with this track sounding a
bit like a good warm up studio track but nothing more.
So in conclusion, I
would say that Lazaretto is an album
with flashes of brilliance and small moments that make you sit up and take
notice, but these are few and far between, with side one being the best half of
the album before it eventually falls away. At this point I am still waiting for
Jack White to deliver an entire album of good material, or should I say a
complete musical statement that measures up to his reputation as a twenty-first
century rock master, something he has so far failed to do on his first two solo
outings.
C+
- Sam
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